Captain’s Surrender alternative dustcovers
Naked men on the covers of books are maybe not to everyone’s tastes. So I thought I would make a dustcover which could be used to hide them when in public 🙂
This was my first attempt:
Which is still my favourite. But unfortunately, although I had originally thought ‘those old paintings are bound to be out of copyright now’, it turned out that it was not so. The copyright to this painting – a portrait of Captain Alexander Hood – is held by the National Maritime Museum in the UK.
So I had to scratch that idea.
Next I found some free photos at Flickr and made this:
Which has no copyright problems, but doesn’t give the impression of being a historical novel of any kind. (In fact I had to paint out the radar and GPS equipment on the ship’s masts!)
So finally I discovered a site with copyright free old paintings on it here:
http://www.wga.hu/index1.html
and came up with a third version:
which I am happy with. If you fancy a copy of this one (big enough to cover a book) it’s available for download from my website HERE
It’s lovely! And a good idea — making the dustjacket available.
Thanks! They’re no where close to your standard, of course, because I had to rely on just finding a nice picture and slapping some words on it. I’m also having doubts about whether I’ve made them the right size, because I don’t know whether CS will be out in trade paperback or ordinary paperback form. I’ll probably have to fix that later.
*g* But I’ll probably be using one myself, to avoid embarrassment. It’s not that I’d be ashamed to be seen reading a m/m book. It’s just that the present cover is so… tacky 😉 So I made it for me and then thought I’d share.
Great to see you over here!
Oh, what a pity you could not use the dandy captain Hood ! I loved his laces and the exquisite blue of his uniform.
But your final choice is very beautiful all the same. Love the look of the cover ! It’s quite dramatic and powerful like any other true naval cover. The central golden light in the midst of all those clouds is very eye-catching. 🙂
I agree with Dauntless – it is a pity that you cannot use Captain Hood! That would have been a gorgeous cover (and subtly sexy too, in a way ;)). 🙂
Oh, what a pity you could not use the dandy captain Hood ! I loved his laces and the exquisite blue of his uniform.
But your final choice is very beautiful all the same.
Yay! Thank you 🙂 And yes, I agree that the original cover is somehow more alluring. Those uniforms are sexy by themselves!
But the shipwreck picture is quite good because it could easily be a picture of the aftermath of the battle in Hudson Bay. And as you say the colours and the light are really lovely.
Of course, if the publishers want to try a different cover, I’ll recommend that they buy the rights to use the Hood one 🙂 But for my own purposes I had to go for the free picture.
I agree with Dauntless – it is a pity that you cannot use Captain Hood! That would have been a gorgeous cover (and subtly sexy too, in a way ;)). 🙂
Yes, I think it’s quite sexy too. Judging from the comments of other people, I don’t think we’re alone in finding the beautiful clothes appealing. Also Captain Hood is not too bad himself 🙂 Doesn’t he have the most amazing neck?